1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to protective guards, and embodiments relate to protective guards for fingers and thumbs that inhibit skin penetration by needles and/or instruments.
2. Description of Related Art
Medical practitioners, including but not limited to doctors, physician assistants, nurses, dentists, and dental assistants may use instruments, implants and/or needles during medical procedures. Medical procedures may include, but are not limited to, surgical procedures and operations; dental procedures and operations; and injection or drawing of fluids using needles. A risk exists that a medical practitioner""s skin may be punctured or penetrated during a medical procedure, resulting in a percutaneous injury. A medical practitioner""s skin may also be punctured or penetrated during disposal or cleaning of needles or medical instruments previously used in a medical procedure. The medical practitioner and/or patient may be subject to infection or disease including, but not limited to, staphylococcus, hepatitis, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) due to an inadvertent puncture of the medical practitioner. With or without transmission of a disease or pathogen, a skin puncture or other wound may be traumatic to the medical practitioner. There is a need to protect medical practitioners and patients from the risk of infection and pathogens due to skin punctures or wounds of the medical practitioner during a medical procedure.
Surgical gloves may be used by medical practitioners to lessen the risk of transferring blood-borne and other pathogens during medical procedures. Some medical practitioners use two gloves on each hand to reduce the risk of glove failure and skin punctures during medical procedures. Surgical gloves typically do not provide adequate protection from penetration of skin by sharps. Sharps may include, but are not limited to, hypodermic needles; medical, dental and laboratory instruments; and burs and sharp edges or projections of hard tissue and prostheses. Studies show that puncture wounds of medical practitioners often occur on backs of a medical practitioner""s fingers or thumb. Puncture wounds may occur predominantly to the index finger, thumb and middle finger. For example, a medical practitioner may hold a syringe in a dominant hand while retracting, isolating, or palpating tissue with the other hand. A sudden movement by the patient may cause the medical practitioner to accidentally puncture the back of a finger or thumb of the non-dominant hand.
Finger coverings and/or hand protectors may be used to reduce the risk of inadvertent skin punctures in non-medical applications. U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,033 issued to Ames, et al., discloses a finger guard for use while pinning garments. U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,828 issued to Brewer, discloses a finger protector for hair stylists"" fingers that includes a wristband joined to a two-finger protector. The two-finger protector has open ends for the fingers to extend through. U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,245 issued to Sullivan, et al., discloses an armored glove finger including a rib knit tubular member having an open end and a closed end.
Finger coverings and/or hand protectors may be used in medical applications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,372 issued to Pierce, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, discloses a trilaminar glove with inner and outer barrier layers and a central foam layer. The trilaminar construction may reduce the risk of a puncture through the glove. U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,038 issued to Lyell, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, discloses a needle stop surgical instrument comprising a finger housing, a needle receiving space, and a handle. The finger housing receives a finger, and the needle receiving space receives and guides a needle. The handle may be grasped between the remaining fingers of the hand and the palm of the hand to allow maneuvering. U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,543 issued to Beck, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, discloses surgical gloves having protective pads placed at selected areas of the surgical gloves. The selected areas of the surgical gloves may include the fingertips and the palms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,626 issued to Sorrels, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, discloses protective finger coverings that have flexible and puncture resistant construction. A finger covering may include a puncture resistant, protective surface on a dorsal or back side of the covering. As used herein, dorsal in relation to a finger means that portion of the finger opposite the palm of the hand, and ventral means that portion of the finger adjacent the palm of the hand when a fist is formed. The finger guide may also include a retentive or elastic layer that may function to hold the covering on a user""s finger or thumb. The retentive layer may be located on a ventral side of the covering. The covering may be open-ended to allow a portion of a user""s thumb or finger to extend through the covering. The portion of the user""s thumb or finger that extends through the covering may allow the user to retain tactile sense while using the covering. The covering may be rotated during use to change the position of the protective surface.
Finger coverings and hand protectors may have several disadvantages. Finger coverings and/or hand protectors may limit finger and/or hand flexibility of the user. Finger coverings and/or hand protectors may limit a user""s sense of touch during a procedure. A user""s sense of touch may be import during a medical procedure, especially if palpation of various surfaces of a treatment area is required during the procedure. A medical practitioner may need to retain a tactile sense during a medical procedure to control a patient and to maintain awareness of locations of sharp portions of instruments, inserts, and/or needles. Additionally, the use of finger and/or hand protectors may be limited by the amount of working space available within the patient. For example, a dentist does not have a large amount of working space within a patient""s mouth. Also, a doctor typically does not have a large amount of working space within a patient during an invasive medical procedure.
A protective guard for a digit of a hand may include a flexible and penetration resistant construction. A digit may be a finger or a thumb. The protective guard may inhibit punctures or other wounds of a medical practitioner during a medical procedure. The protective guard may be formed as an elongated tubular member that covers the middle and terminal phalanges of a finger or thumb. When the protective guard is positioned on a finger, the protective guard may extend from just beyond the fingertip to just past the medial finger joint. An end of the protective guard nearest the medial joint may be contoured to allow bending of the medial joint. An end of the protective guard nearest the fingertip may be shaped to avoid covering a large portion of the pad of the fingertip. Leaving a large portion of the pad of the fingertip uncovered may promote retention of a user""s tactile sense.
A protective guard may include a ventral (or front) portion and a dorsal (or back) portion. The ventral portion may include elastic material that functions to retain the protective guard on a medical practitioner""s finger or thumb. The dorsal portion may include penetration and puncture resistant material. A protective guard may have a ring-shaped cross sectional form. An inner diameter of the protective guard may be smaller than a diameter of a finger or thumb upon which the protective guard is placed. The protective guard may form a seal with a user""s hand that inhibits fluid from contacting the portion of a user""s hand or finger that is covered by the protective guard. The elastic properties of the material may hold the protective guard on a finger or thumb when the guard is positioned on the finger or thumb. The elastic properties of the protective guard and/or the shape of the protective guard may allow the protected finger or thumb to be bent or flexed. Alternatively, grooves may be formed in a portion of the protective guard to allow the guard to flex when the finger or thumb is bent or flexed.
A dorsal portion of a protective guard may be protective material that is puncture and penetration resistant. The dorsal portion may include some flexibility so that a medical practitioner may bend a finger or thumb that the protective guard is positioned on. The dorsal portion may include grooves that are positioned in the dorsal portion to allow the dorsal portion to flex during use. The protective guard may be rotated on a finger or thumb during use to change the location of the protective material.
Protective material of a protective guard may be dyed a different color than less protective or retentive material of the protective guard. For example, the protective portion of a protective guard may be red, orange, yellow, green, or blue, while the less protective portion of the protective guard may be uncolored or skin colored. A portion of the protective guard may be made of a transparent or semi-transparent material. Alternately, a protective portion of a protective guard may be painted or otherwise colored a different color than other portions of the protective guard. The color difference between the penetration resistant portion and the less penetration resistant portions of a protective guard may allow a medical practitioner to maintain awareness of the location of a protective portion of the guard during a medical procedure. The protective portion of a protective guard may be any color that contrasts with a user""s skin and/or less protective sections of the protective guard.
A protective portion of a protective guard may have a longer length than a less protective or retentive portion of the protective guard. The smaller length of the retentive portion may promote the ability to flex and bend a finger while wearing the protective guard. The smaller length of the retentive portion may also allow a pad of the finger or thumb upon which the protective guard is placed to remain uncovered during use so that the protective guard does not interfere with a user""s ability to register tactile sensations through the finger or thumb pad.
A ventral or retentive portion of a protective guard may be made of a flexible material with some penetration resistance. The retentive portion of a protective guard may be formed of an elastomeric polyvinylchloride compound; such as, but not limited to Flexchem(copyright), which is supplied by Tekni-Plex Co. of New Jersey. In an embodiment, an retentive portion is formed of a 0.75 millimeter thick, 65 Shore A durometer hardness, elastomeric polyvinylchloride material. The resistance of the material to puncture by a 27 gauge needle may be over four times greater than penetration resistance of a double pair of latex gloves, each glove having a thickness between about 0.05 millimeters and 0.2 millimeters. The penetration resistance of the material to puncture by a 20 gauge needle may be over eight times greater than the penetration resistance of a double pair of latex gloves, each glove having a thickness between about 0.05 millimeters and 0.2 millimeters.
A dorsal or protective portion of a protective guard may be made of a penetration resistant material that has some flexibility. The flexibility of the protective portion and the shape of the protective guard may allow a medical practitioner to bend a finger or thumb upon which is positioned the protective guard. The protective portion of the protective guard may be formed of an elastomeric polyvinylchloride compound; such as, but not limited to, Unichem(copyright), which is supplied by Tekni-Plex Co. of New Jersey. In an embodiment, a protective portion is formed of a 0.80 millimeter, 90 Shore A durometer hardness, polyvinylchloride material. The resistance of the material to puncture by a 27 gauge needle may be over twenty-six times greater than penetration resistance of a double pair of latex gloves, each glove having a thickness between about 0.05 millimeters and 0.2 millimeters. The penetration resistance of the material to puncture by a 20 gauge needle may be over fifty-one times greater than the penetration resistance of a double pair of latex gloves, each glove having a thickness between about 0.05 millimeters and 0.2 millimeters. In some embodiments, grooves may be formed in the protective portion of the guard to increase the flexibility of the guard.
In some applications, a protective guard may be rotated on a thumb or finger to change a position of a primary protective portion of the protective guard. For example, if the protective guard is positioned over a surgical glove, the guard may be rotated during use to change the position of the protective portion of the protective guard from the back of the finger to the front of the finger. A color difference between a protective portion of the protective guard and a less protective portion of the guard may allow a medical practitioner to visually confirm that the protective portion of the guard is positioned where desired.
A protective guard may include a lip at an end that will be closest to a fingertip when the guard is placed on a finger or thumb. The end may contact a fingernail or a fingertip during use to properly position the protective guard and inhibit the guard from advancing too far up a user""s finger or thumb. The lip may be an indicator of an insertion depth of the protective guard on a user""s finger or thumb.
A portion of a protective guard may be made of a protective material. The protective material may include, but is not limited to, a poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide or similar material, or a polymerized fluorocarbon, such as polytetrafluoroethylene or similar material. In embodiments, the protective material may be Kevlar(copyright) or Teflon(copyright), which are available from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Delaware. The protective material may be positioned only on a selected portion of the protective guard as a layer, or the protective material may form substantially all of a puncture resistant portion of a protective guard. If the protective material is positioned on only a selected portion of the protective guard, the protective layer may be a different color than a puncture resistant portion of the protective guard, which may be of different color than other portions of the protective guard.
An advantage of a protective guard is that the guard includes a puncture and penetration resistant protective portion and a retentive portion. The protective portion may include some flexibility and the retentive portion may include significant puncture and penetration resistance. The protective portion and the retentive portion may result in a protective guard that provides a large degree of puncture and penetration resistance while still remaining easy to manipulate during a medical procedure. The protective guard may not include portions that cover a significant portion of the pad of a finger or thumb so that a user retains the ability to feel tactile sensations through the finger or thumb. A medical practitioner may retain tactile sense in the protected finger or thumb while wearing the protective guard.
An advantage of a protective guard may be that the guard has a substantial amount of flexibility. The substantial amount of flexibility may allow the protective guard to conform to a user""s finger or thumb when the finger or thumb is flexed without being uncomfortable to the user.
An advantage of a protective guard is that the protective guard may be multi-colored. A protective portion of the protective guard may be a different color than less protective portions of the guard. For example, a dorsal side of a protective guard that is puncture and penetration resistant may have a green color, while a ventral side of the protective guard may have a tan color. The multi-colored guard may provide a conscious reminder to a medical practitioner of the protective portion of the guard.
Another advantage of a protective guard may include that the protective guard has a layer or layers of additional protective material. Another advantage of a protective guard is that the guard may have a lip at an end of the guard that limits an insertion depth of the guard on a user""s finger or thumb. Further advantages of protective guards may include that the guards are safe, durable, light weight, simple, efficient, reliable, disposable, comfortable, and inexpensive; yet the guards may also be easy to manufacture, don, and use.
Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the general manner of carrying out the invention. It is to be understood that the forms of the invention shown and described herein are to be taken as the presently preferred embodiments. Elements and materials may be substituted for those illustrated and described herein, parts and processes may be reversed, and certain features of the invention may be utilized independently, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art after having the benefit of this description of the invention. Changes may be made in the elements described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the following claims.